Letters From Father Christmas

From AudioFile Don't miss this little gem amidst all the fanfare of Tolkien's novels and Hollywood film. Each year, starting in the early 1920s Tolkien responded to his children's letters to Father Christmas with notes and drawings. He introduces the chores of packing the many packages, the mishaps of weather and the mischief of his faithful helper, North Polar Bear, to his sons and daughter--whose names are added or omitted from the letters as the family grows. Derek Jacobi is fully in the spirit of these epistles, and listeners hear how Tolkien, also, elaborates with one year's letters, and can only send a few lines and a drawing the next. The one missed step is the annoying choice of just one music selection which separates the letters. Nevertheless, make this audio program a holiday tradition. R.F.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine Product Description Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply?For more than twenty years, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien received letters from the North Pole -- from Father Christmas himself! They told wonderful stories of mischief and disaster, adventures and battles: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place, how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas's house, and many others. Now, for the first time, these letters are brought to life with specially arranged holiday music. About the Author J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892. After serving in the First World War, he embarked upon a distinguished career as a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University. He is the renowned creator of Middle-earth and author of the great modern classic, The Hobbit, the prelude to his epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Other works by J.R.R. Tolkien include The Silmarillion. J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973 at the age of 81.